There was once a time when making money on eBay seemed to be about as easy as grabbing fruit from a low-hanging branch. Countless books were sold alleging that they could show you how to create an online shop that would make you a fortune.

Sadly, even if this was ever the case, it’s harder than ever to see reoccurring profits on eBay thanks to an ungodly amount of competition. Fortunately, in 2015, there are still a couple of ways you can create an online shop and score big profits from eBay.

Use Ads

This is by far the simplest way to make money on eBay. It does require that you start a site and get traffic to it. However, unlike most plans that run on affiliate marketing, you can make your site about whatever you want. As you want it to draw a crowd, you may do well to look into niche markets.

Get a blog or other website running (you can create an online shop, which will give you another option for selling aside from ads) and then apply to ePN to become part of the eBay Partner Network. Once you’re accepted, you’ll have all kinds of tools for running ads on your site. With your buttons, text links and banners, all you need is for people to click through and do some shopping on one of the Internet’s largest sites. With access to eBay’s API, you can build plenty of other solutions for your web presence as well.

New and reactivated buyers will get you 200% commissions on their first purchase with every other purchase made from your affiliate link getting you a percentage of eBay’s revenue. With cookies lasting 30 days, you have a huge window of opportunity.

The best part about this method is that you don’t need any inventory and virtually no overhead (you may want to buy a domain).

Use Dropshipping

This next method is an oldie but goodie. Drop shipping has been around almost as long as eCommerce itself. The term refers to selling products online that you never actually hold onto. Instead, you just create an online shop, take someone’s order and then tell your supplier (the drop shipper) where to send the product. All you really have to handle is the marketing, which is what brings you to eBay.

Now, you may be wondering why it hasn’t also been wiped out because of competition. It’s actually very simple. Didn’t that last paragraph sound pretty easy? The truth is that making drop shipping work on eBay still takes work. If all you do is set up an account and begin selling products from a drop shipping company, yes, you probably won’t have much, if anything, to show for it.

Instead, you want to start with an eBay storefront and list at least a few products at first. Then, after you create an online shop, don’t just rely on eBay to do all your marketing. Take advantage of social media. Start your own site, perhaps a blog again, around the products you’re selling. If you can, get an email newsletter going.

By introducing more traditional methods of running an online business, you’ll have a much easier time getting your eBay drop shipping business off the ground.

In its 20th year, eBay can still make you a good deal of money, as long as you know what you’re doing. If you’re willing to work for it, the above two methods can become your fast track toward Internet profits.

Sujjal is an eCommerce Consultant at Easystorehosting. He has a vast acquaintance of eCommerce industry and has helped many sellers to grow their business. You can connect with him at [email protected]